Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/326

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

SECTION VIII.

The Morelos Railway (Ferrocarril de Morelos).

(See chapter on railroads.)

This line has two divisions — one goes to Texcoco and Irolo, and the other to Cuautla. Both are the same as far as Los Reyes, 17 kilometres from the capital.

1. From Mexico to Cuautla; distance, 138 kilometres, or 85½ miles; time, nine hours. Two passenger-trains daily. Fares, first class, $2.70 ; second class, $1.38.

Leaving the station of San Lazaro, the track goes easterly past the Lake of Texcoco to Los Reyes. The old stage-road lies near the railroad, and runs parallel with it for several miles. The railway now forks, the northeastern branch being built to Texcoco (42 kilometres), and thence toward Irolo.

Texcoco is famous in the history of old Mexico, or Anahuac. (Restaurante Universo.) It was the chief city next to Tenochtitlan. Many of the ancient kings lived here, and since the Conquest it has become an important place for the manufacture of woolen and cotton goods. The ruins of three teocallis are still visible. But to give a complete history of Texcoco, with its relations to the Aztecs, Toltecs, and their predecessors, would require a volume, so we will not dwell upon it here. This branch extends to Irolo, in the midst of a maguey region, and is to some degree an opposition line to the Mexican Railway in the transportation of pulque to the capital. It is worthy of remark